All updates from the month of December 2006 are listed below.

Year in Review 2006 is up!
Written by Justin on December 30, 2006 at 7:01PM

• With just a day left in 2006, the annual Framingham/Natick Retail Year in Review is up! Click here to check it out.
  

Planning Board reviews latest Natick expansion plans
Written by Justin on December 24, 2006 at 11:23AM

• Although it's the last day of the holiday shopping season, there could be a lot more to shop for next year at Natick. General Growth officials made it to the Natick Planning Board last week to discuss the proposed 65,000 sq. ft. "streetscape", which would include a Northbrook Court-like two-level Crate & Barrel store along with a new Cheesecake Factory restaurant.
• From the MetroWest Daily News' recap of the meeting, it doesn't appear that town officials were all that stunned by the inviting, downtown-like look of the expansion, and voted to look at the plans as a major change to the expansion plan rather than as the minimal change that the mall views it to be. Construction would take away about 200 of the 500 spot in the mall's Surface Lot G along Route 9, which the board saw as a concern, although construction of the new Parking Garage F is expected to alleviate some congestion that the expansion would create. Town officials' concern regarding parking also reflected that while the shops would have a Main Street-like feel, the lack of parking at the front of the mall would force shoppers to park elsewhere and access the shops through the interior of the mall, thus limiting the appeal of the design.
• The full story is online at http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/8999341220173971455.
  

Natick set to expand again!
Written by Justin on December 15, 2006 at 1:19AM

• The 2007 expansion and J.C. Penney renovations won't be the only construction at 1245 Worcester Street for long if the mall has it's way.
• The MetroWest Daily News reports that next Wednesday, project officials will present plans for a 65,000 sq. ft. "streetscape" expansion along the Rt. 9 side of the mall between Macy's and Lord & Taylor that would include a larger Crate & Barrel store, The Cheesecake Factory, and other tenants. The project will take over some of the existing parking lot, but a fair amount of parking will remain, in addition to the new Parking Garage F. If all goes according to plan, the shops will act as the "icing on the cake", completing the Natick expansion with an opening by November 2007.
• The full story can be found at http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/8999355832487261887. Framingham/Natick Retail will continue to bring you updates on this project as they come available.
  

Framingham Lowe's set for "soft opening" tomorrow
Written by Justin on December 10, 2006 at 9:52PM

• The MetroWest Daily News reports that Lowe's of Framingham will be having a "soft opening" tomorrow, December 11. The 102,000 sq. ft. store, the 15th in the state, will stock a total of 40,000 items, with 250 appliances among them. And as readers of Framingham/Natick Retail already know, the tight site forced Lowe's to place 299 of the store's 544 spaces on the store's roof, using a design only found elsewhere only at the Lowe's in Metairie, LA. With a clear aim for the female customer, Lowe's is expecting to steal sales from the Home Depot just a mile away in Natick.
• The store's official grand opening is slated for January 11, 2007, when the store will feature promotions, demonstrations, and specials to mark its presence in Framingham.
  
• The story is online at http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/business/8999365366395446271.
  

Portion of Natick Mall Road reopens
Written by Justin on December 10, 2006 at 9:47PM

• Natick Mall Road, better known as the stretch of road connecting Speen Street to Flutie Pass, has reopened. The road, which is only one-way and one at this time connecting Speen to Flutie, takes you beneath the expansion corridor, past the future condos on the right and hotel pad on the left, then goes past the future JCPenney (which appears to be largely gutted from the road) and new parking garage F before bringing you to the intersection of Flutie and the connection of Natick Mall Road to Route 9.